The Indians accomplished the feat in extraordinary fashion, not just knocking off three-time defending state champion Fort Lauderdale St. Thomas Aquinas, but sweeping the Raiders, 3-0, in the Class 8A state semifinal, 25-21, 25-22, 25-18, before a raucous crowd Saturday afternoon at the Teepee.

“To take down the three-time defending state champs, that’s big right there,” Venice coach Brian Wheatley said. “That’s a big win for our program. We came in ready to fight. Our mindset was ready. I just can’t say enough about this team.”

The Indians knew what they were up against and the magnitude of the match.

“It was a little intimidating coming in,” Faulkner said. “But we had to be confident.”

The Indians became the first team to sweep the Raiders in a five-set match since the Venice 2012 championship team swept St. Thomas Aquinas in the final.

“One of our biggest rivals over the last 20 years has been Aquinas,” Wheatley said. “They’re an awesome team. We were just hoping to be the team to knock them off.”

Venice will take on Tallahassee Leon, a 3-1 winner over Ovideo Hagerty, at 4 p.m. Saturday for the 8A state title at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. The Indians lost to Leon in the 5A state semifinals in 2009, the only time the teams have met in the playoffs.

Breaking a 15-all tie with five straight points, including two kills from Szczepaniuk, Venice turned to Faulkner to finish the first set. The junior had three kills and a block on the Indians’ final four points.

“It was very important because it built momentum for the other sets,” Faulkner said.

“A lot of teams know we hit in the middle a lot. To push it to the outside confused them a little bit.”

The second set was like the first with neither team gaining a big advantage. Tied at 18, 19 and 20, the Indians again prevailed down the stretch. Kelly Hubbard, the only senior on the roster, had a kill and block, Szczepaniuk an ace, and Faulkner a kill before the Raiders committed a hitting error and serving error.

“We had so many unforced errors,” St. Thomas Aquinas coach Lisa Zielinski said. “You can’t beat teams when you have unforced errors. When you have service errors and they’re serving lollypops and we’re shanking them, mental unforced errors.”

St. Thomas Aquinas (21-6) gained life at the start of the third set. After Venice had taken a 5-1 lead, the Raiders reeled off seven straight points.

“We had a good game plan for them,” Wheatley said. “They switched it up a little bit in Game 3, moving players around. We caught back up to what was going on and we took off.”

The Indians eventually got level at 12-all and slowly pulled away, using an air-tight defense to frustrate the St. Thomas Aquinas hitters.

“Defense wins championships and I’m a defensive coach,” Wheatley said. “These guys want to keep getting on offense, which is what we did, but it was a real clean game. It was just an exciting win for us.”

“Our plan was just to go for it,” Faulkner said. “Leave it all on the court and have no regrets.”

The wild celebration thereafter was a combination of the Indians’ lofty accomplishments all season and the final home match. Throughout “Wheatley’s Wackos” played their role.

“You can’t play great every match,” Zielinski said after her team’s second loss to a Florida-based team. “You’re just hoping it wouldn’t be this one. I’m sure it was just environment. I’m sure that was it. It was part of the game plan, I’m sure. You put a hostile environment in there. I’m sure that was a lot of it.”

St. Thomas Aquinas defeated Venice in the 2004 state final before the Indians won their second championship the following year. In 2012, Venice defeated the Raiders for the state crown, the first of the Indians’ two in three seasons. The only other time was the most recent in the 2015 state semifinals at Venice.

Now, the Indians will play for their fifth state title and first since beating St. Thomas Aquinas in 2014.

“I can’t wait,” Wheatley said. “This is what we play for.”

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